


Memories

by caramelkaren



Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-26
Updated: 2013-02-26
Packaged: 2017-12-03 15:55:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/699980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caramelkaren/pseuds/caramelkaren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The captain and the steward have been retired for a few years now, but that doesn't stop Arthur from still being absolutely happy to wake up in the same bed as his Skipper.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Memories

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Cabin Crew Riot Two! Prompt #2: Stages of Life (Elder Years)
> 
> It takes my fourth fic for the fandom party to write fluffy slash. Hurrah!

When Arthur woke up that morning, he couldn't help but smile. He had done so almost every morning for the past...oh how long had it been since they finally saved up for own place? He really couldn't remember. Numbers weren't his strong suit. He could still recall having to change up the rules to “Fizz Buzz” because of that. Of course they made it into a much more _brilliant_ game in the end.

But yes, smiling in the morning. A pattern that never really broke. Well, there was when Mum died. It was hard to jump right back into that routine for a while. Even though the reason he smiled had decided during that time to wrap him into an even bigger, tighter, more comforting hug than usual. That was so nice. Arthur couldn't help but smile even more to think of just how loved he truly was. Loved by his Skipper.

Yes, he still called him Skip even though the both of them were quite retired. It was hard not to! Martin Crieff had been the Skipper from the day they met. Sure maybe he called others Skip when they were being the captain (such as Herc that one flight), but he couldn't help but note how strange it felt to say. It felt even stranger to suddenly start calling his love Martin all the time. Luckily for him, Skip didn't complain. In fact, he said he preferred it like that. So Skip it was.

This morning Skip was wrapped up in his arms, his backside up against Arthur. Spooning is what it was called apparently, but Arthur still didn't exactly understand why. He didn't think he looked like a spoon, did he? Oh well, trust the experts. Arthur started to run his hands through Skip's hair. Yeah it was thinner now, and grey, and there was a bit of a bald spot. Which somehow he spotted before Skip did. He could still remember just how panicked Skip was at that.

“ _B-bald spot?”_

“ _Yeah, riiiight there,” Arthur said, pointing over Skip's head to reach the small patch of visible pale skin towards the back._

_Immediately Skip went to cover it with his hands and ran into the bathroom. “Oh God, you're right!”_

_Arthur ran in to be sure his love was going to be okay. He knew just how much Skipper valued his appearance. After all, why else would he care so much about his captain's hat?_

“ _I, I'm going...going **bald**! I know I'm not really thrilled with my ginger hair, but, but I'd rather have it than, well, none at all!”_

“ _But Skip, it's actually kinda cute.”_

“ _Of course you'd say that.” Arthur could tell his Skip was trying not to smile, but was failing. He'd seen that face too many times by now._

“ _And just think, when on flights, no one can see it! You have your hat! And when you go places, you can always wear other hats! Like how about one of those ones they wore in black-and-white times?”_

“ _Fedoras?”_

“ _Is that the one with the dent on top?”_

“ _Yes, Arthur.”_

“ _Then yes, a fadoras! That would be **brilliant**!”_

Okay, so yes, his hair had taken its natural progression from there. Though both Arthur and Skip were shocked he hadn't lost all of it by now. They were both in their 40s by then if he remembered it right. But despite the fact it wasn't the same thick, curly ginger locks he had the day they met, it was still Skip's hair. And because it was his, it was beautiful.

Skip always told him beautiful was not the right adjective for him. Beautiful implied feminine, and he was not a girl. A quick taking off of his pants would show that. But handsome just didn't really work for some reason. Arthur agreed with him, Skip wasn't really girly or anything like that, but he was more...delicate. Short, thin, pale skin dotted with freckles, curls framing his blueish-greenish eyes...Handsome was a word Arthur tended to associate with the more suave, debonair types. Like how Douglas probably looked if he knew him when he was younger. But Skip just wasn't that. Beautiful just seemed to be the right word.

And he still was just that. All the marks of age hadn't detracted away from it at all. He still found himself wanting to kiss those lips, to poke his nose, to hold his hand...

Not only that, but Skip was still just as _brilliant_ underneath it all. He still had a tendency to stutter when nervous (which was just the most adorable thing in the world after baby polar bears and otters), still had that determined attitude, still was just as intelligent, just as clever...Skip even still loved aeroplanes.

Too bad he was forced to give flying up.

It was a terrible day when Skip came back from the optimist's office (wait, that didn't sound right...how about just eye doctor) one day just a few years ago.

“ _Skip? What's wrong?”_

“ _N-nothing it's, it's just that, * sniffle * I was at the optometrist’s.”_

“ _The what?”_

“ _Eye doctor. And, and...and he, he told me...” With that, his Skipper just broke into tears._

_Arthur immediately was up out of his chair and wrapping his arms around Skip. He had no idea what could be so upsetting about going to the eye doctor (unless it was those eye drops – those were terrible) but he decided to hug it out nonetheless._

“ _He said,” Skip tried again, “that...that I can't...f-fly any * hic * more.”_

_Arthur's heart sunk down into his feet. No...Not that. Anything, anything but that. He found himself crying too in seconds. “Skip...That's-” There were no words to describe just how terrible, how devastating, how heartbreaking it was. His Skipper just wasn't his Skipper if he couldn't fly anymore. It was him being a pilot in the first place that even allowed them to meet for camels' sake! It was his love's dream. And it was being forced to end._

_Arthur just held onto Skip even closer and placed kisses on the top of his head. Oh, was this just all a nightmare? Please be a nightmare..._

It turned out not to be a nightmare, sadly, but the two of them have managed to make it so far. Sometimes Skip falls into a sadly nostalgic mood, but usually Arthur can think of something to cheer him right up. Like yesterday.

“ _Skip?”_

“ _Yes, Arthur?”_

“ _I just realized I haven't used the phonetic alphabet in a while, and I wanna see if I still know it. Give me a letter.”_

“ _Umm...Okay. P.”_

“ _Pig? No, pan? No, pasta, pizza, pattern-”_

“ _Oh, you have forgotten.”_

“ _No, I know it! Peter, Paul, Pierre, pa, papa, it's papa!”_

“ _Hey, you got it! In ten tries too. For you, that's not bad.”_

“ _Okay, give me another one?”_

“ _S.”_

“ _Ohh, I never could get this one.”_

“ _Oh, want me to give you another?”_

“ _No, no...sail, sea, satin, Susan, Skip – no, that's you – safe, scene, sun, Sally...”_

After about 50 words, he gave up. It was Sierra. He did say he never could get that one!

But it did really work to cheer Skip up. And that's the only thing that mattered.

Because really, in his life, Skip was paramount. Keeping him happy was all he really wanted. And for the past few decades, that's what he did, whether it be through taking him places, surprising him with little gifts, or just being ever present in his life.

Now, their life wasn't perfect. Misunderstandings happened every so often. Arthur hated calling them arguments. Arguments was what Mum called her fights with Dad. Him and Skip were not like Mum and Dad. Not one bit. Misunderstandings worked a lot better, because that's actually a lot of what it was. Someone (usually Arthur) just did not understand. But usually things were worked out pretty quickly, and Arthur could go back to making Skip happy, making him feel loved.

Arthur decided to hold his Skipper a little bit closer to him, but taking care not to be too tight. He didn't want to wake him up before he was ready to. Sleep was very important, and only your body knew just when enough was enough. And Skip deserved to rest. He was always so stressed out when they were younger. Being the captain of an aeroplane was much more difficult than just stewarding it. And then all the work with Icarus Removals added a toll onto him also. He needed to be allowed to catch up on all the sleep he may have missed on back then.

So Arthur started to pet Skip's hair again, blissfully happy. This was a lot like his bath-time moments. There were loads of these, and since he didn't have to worry about running out of them just yet, he was able to just enjoy the feel of the strands in between his fingers. And it was absolutely _brilliant_.

 


End file.
